The discourses of Sri Mukkur Lakshmi Nrisimhachariyar have often been
associated with some amount of humour from real-life incidents. In one
of his discourses, he mentions how the vedic texts have come to the aid
of scholars at unusual circumstances. We know in olden days, people used
to perform soma sacrifices, homams and other rituals for well-being of the
family and some to gain power and wealth.

Once a wealthy person had intended to perform these rituals at home and had
invited vedic scholars to accomplish that task. These rituals normally start early
during the day around 5 AM and would go on as per the wish of the host. So,
on that day too, it started very early in the dawn and these vedic scholars
have been reciting all vedic texts pertaining to that ritual. It was around
mid-day and cooking was almost complete to serve all the vedic scholars
present. But the person who is hosting this ritual has been too immersed
in these vedic texts recital that he went into deep meditation. Mid-Afternoon
went by, and all the scholars were totally famished. They were reciting the
“Aitareya Brahmana” and eagerly awaiting the signs from the host to complete
the proceedings. As their patience ran out, they devised a strategy to awaken
the host. In “Aitareya Brahmana” there are these verses “agnaye pathikrite …
gnaye pathikrite..” and they tweaked them a bit to sound like “agnaye
pasikkardhe.. gnaye pasikkardhe” (pasikkardhe in tamil means *feeling hungry*).
On hearing this, the host suddenly got out of the meditative state and realized
what was happening. He immediately ordered his men to serve food to the
scholars. The scholars were mighty relieved that the vedic texts came to their
rescue at last.